PEKIN — A Peoria man was sentenced to five years in prison last week after he admitted stealing up to $100,000 worth of Caterpillar Inc. parts while working at the company.

Eliot Wells, 35, agreed in a plea agreement in Tazewell County court to testify against the man accused of running the theft operation that produced nearly $500,000 in illicit profits through an Internet sales site.

Prosecutors may not need Wells’ testimony. John Peters of East Peoria is scheduled to appear in court March 17.

Wells, however, also agreed to testify against “any subsequent persons” charged with theft of parts from a Caterpillar building in East Peoria from 2010 through last summer.

Peters, 50, and Wells for now remain the only people charged with pilfering the custom-built parts while they worked for a company contracted by Caterpillar. In all, Caterpillar estimated the stolen parts’ value at more than $1 million.

Peters allegedly sold them through an online sales account with eBay.

East Peoria investigators found sales documents, along with Caterpillar parts worth more than $300,000, when they raided his home last September, according to a Tazewell County prosecutor’s court affidavit.

Police were called last August after Caterpillar security determined parts with serial numbers specific to the company were found for sale on an eBay account that contained Peters’ telephone number, the affidavit stated.

Peters had been fired from his Cat subcontracting job in February. But over subsequent months he used Wells to continue the thefts for a cut of the sales profits, the affidavit stated.